Over 80 minutes, Cavalier’s A Million Horses inhabits a warm, vintage, and unabashedly soulful pocket with a fervor few can match. But can it set itself apart from the many other producers doing the same?

Ripperton and Sam K have run a pretty tight ship the past couple of years with the Perspectiv label. They’ve given exposure to the audible charms of their Swiss compatriots and helped push a deep, emotive flavor of techno at the same time. Family Tree II is the second full length artist sampler for the label and with any luck it will become an annual event.

[Plak Records] Chaton, founder of Plak Records, has produced serviceable if spartan grooves for Sthmlaudio Recordings and his own label since they both debuted in 2001. I find his tracks are most ear-catching when they’re remixed, as they have been by Agnès (“Catch the Beat”) and now Ripperton. He constructs the canvas for others to […]

[Slowhouse Recordings] If house is a feeling, then Slowhouse’s “Three” is a little too pristine and controlled to fit in completely. This is not a criticism; the project has taken the vogue pared-down house of Cassy, et al., and stripped it to the warm essentials. Bridging house vibe and techno precision, the series has hit […]

[Moonpool] Since starting Meerestief Records in 2002, managers Walter Ercolino and Daniela Stickroth have kept busy by expanding into online radio, a booking agency and three sub-labels (Meerestief Rot, Limited and Digital). With Alex Niggemann and Marc Poppcke’s “L’aurora,” the Stuttgart-based label welcomes its fourth sublabel offspring, Moonpool, to the family. Focused on the “house […]